SM 530: CLINICAL STRESS MANAGEMENT

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INFORMATION

This online continuing education course, is designed for mental health professionals and other health care professionals seeking to expand their professional practices by offering clients highly effective stress-management, evidence-based therapeutic interventions. Mental health and health care professionals will study foundational theories of stress and its effects on body, mind and spirit. These professionals will examine research related outcomes related to stress management techniques that have been validated in clinical practices with evidence-based effectiveness. The mind-body-connection is studied throughout the course and is emphasized as a holistic model in which to assess and treat clients who present with stress related body, mind, and spirit distresses. Mental health and other health care professionals will examine and learn and be able to assess clients for many life and occupational situations related to stress and their responses and coping mechanisms to them. The diversity in stress environments for clients and the response to them is examined as well. Mental health professionals and health care professionals will then explore and learn, from in-depth study, key evidence-based clinical interventions in stress management that can be effectively use with clients to significantly reduce and management their defined stressors. Professionals will be able to work with their clients to develop personalized stress management intervention plans that clients may use on an on-going basis to manage their long-term stressors to enhance their overall mental, physical and spiritual health. Mental health professionals will also learn to assist clients to perform self-assessments of the effectiveness of the outcomes of their personalized stress management intervention plans. This course is particularly designed for mental health and other health care professionals who are seeking to achieve the Stress Management Consultant Certification status as offered by the AIHCP, Inc. Course Code SM 530. Contact Hour of Education = 30

Level of Complexity: Intermediate and Advanced.

This course is particularly designed for those who would like
to apply for Certification as a Certified Stress Management Consultant or Crisis Intervention Consultant by the American Institute of Health Care Professionals, Inc,.

Pre-requisite to enrolling in the continuing education program: registrants must meet at least one of the following; 1.) a registered nurse currently licensed to practice nursing, 2). a licensed social worker, 3). a health care licensed professional, 4). a health care provider with a minimum of a bachelors degree, 5). a licensed counselor or psychologist, 6). holds a bachelor's degree or higher in psychology, human services, or other health related field, 7.) a practicing pastoral counselor, 8). is in current practice as an ordained minister or crisis counselor, or 9). a corporate trainer, 10). a wellness or fitness consultant, or 11). a licensed or certified holistic care provider.

This Course is Board approved. The American Institute of Health Care Professionals, Inc. is a licensed Continuing Education Provider in the State of California, Board of Registered Nursing, Provider # CEP 15595.

Continuing Education credit for this program is awarded by Commonwealth Educational Seminars (CES) for the following professions:

This is a guided, independent study CE Course. You are to study
and progress at your own rate. There are no written assignments.
It is recommended that you follow this process for completing
the course:

TIME FRAME: You are allotted two years from the date of enrollment,
to complete all of the courses in the stress management program. There are no set time-frames, other
than the two year allotted time. If you do not complete the courses
within the two-year time-frame, you will be removed from the
course and an "incomplete" will be recorded for you
in our records. Also, if you would like to complete the courses
after this two-year expiration time, you would need to register
and pay the course tuition fee again.

.Instructor: Your instructor for this course is Dominick L. Flarey, Ph.D, RN-BC, CH-C, ANP-BC, FACHE, a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, Meditation Instructor, and a Board Certified Adult Nurse Practitioner, as well as being Board Certified in Psychiatic-Mental Health Nursing, and the Executive Director of the American Institute of Health Care Professionals, Inc. Access information.

GRADING: You must achieve a passing score of at least 75% to
complete this course and receive the 30 hours of awarded continuing
education credit. There are no letter grades assigned. You will
receive notice of your total % score. Those who score below the
minimum of 75% will be contacted by the and options for completing additional course work to
achieve a passing score, will be presented.

COURSE EVALUATION: upon submitting your responses to the examination
questions, you are required to complete the online course evaluation. Course evaluations are accessed from the online classroom. A course evaluation must be completed in order to receive the CE course certificate.

Online Classroom Resources and Tools

* Message Boards: each specialty program has an area to "post" on the message board. Students may post messages at anytime. Posting allows students to converse with those in the same specialty practice and to discuss issues/course content etc. Instructions for posting are provided in the online classrooms.

* Chat Rooms: each specialty has it's own unique "chat room." Inside of the classroom there is a schedule for "chat time" with students in your specific specialty practice. Participating in "chats" is voluntary. The chat sessions are used as means for students to come together and discuss course content or anything related to the courses and/or certification specialty.

* Examination Access: there is link to take you right to the online examination program where you can print out your examination and work with it. All examinations are formatted as "open book" tests. When you are ready, you can access the exam program at anytime and click in your responses to the questions. Full information is provided in the online classrooms.

* Student Resource Center: there is a link for access to a web page "Student Resource Center." The Resource Center provides for easy access to all of our policies/procedures and additional information regarding applying for certification. We also have many links to many outside reference sites, such as online libraries that you may freely access.

* Online Evaluation: there is a link in the classroom where you may access the course evaluation. All students completing a course, must, without exception, complete the course evaluation.

* Faculty Access Information: you will have access to your instructor's online resume/biography, as well as your instructor's specific contact information.

* Additional Learning Materials: some faculty have prepared additional "readings" and /or brief lecture notes to enhance your experience. All of these are available in the online classrooms.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this course, you will
be able to:

1.Identify and discuss the pioneers in stress management as well as their contributions to its understanding and the development of therapeutic interventions.

2. Review and discuss the anatomy/physiology involved in the stress reaction and explain how to educate clients regarding this so that they have awareness of what is happening to them when under stress.

3. Review and discuss the endocrine system, hormones and their effects related to stress reactions and explain how to educate clients regarding this so that they have an awareness of what is happening to them physiologically when under stress.

4. Understand and describe the functions of the autonomic nervous system and its role/functions related to the stress response, as well as the physical and psychological manifestations that occur and establish a teaching strategy to educate clients on these manifestations they may experience under stress.

5. Identify how stress affects all of the major organs and body systems and be able to incorporate the knowledge into the assessment of clients in clinical practice.

6. Define how stress affects the immunological system and be able to incorporate this knowledge in clinical practice.

7. Discuss major disease states associated with chronic stress and be able to incorporate this knowledge in client assessment and treatment in clinical practice.

8. Discuss a model of stress based on life-situations and utilize the model when assessing clients in clinical practice.

9. Define and discuss Eustress and its concomitant model and educate clients on this concept.

10. Identify and discuss core issues related to nutrition and stress and incorporate this knowledge in patient teaching in clinical practice.

11. Review and discuss the use of the Life Events Model for stress identification and use this model when assessing clients in clinical practice.

12. Discuss concepts related to interpersonal relationships and stress and be able to work with this model is assisting clients to identify stressors related to their own relationships.

13. Identify effective strategies for conflict resolution in interpersonal relationships and work with clients to learn and use these strategies in their own lives.

14. Identify social support networking strategies for stress reduction and assist clients to seek out and utilize such networks.

15. Examine how personal perceptions affect the experiences of stress and lead clients in an exploration of their own personal perceptions of the stresses they are confronting.

16. Identify how the use of humor may be effective in stress management and teach clients how to use humor as an effective stress management intervention.

17. Define major interventions used in anxiety management, how and why they work and teach them to clients in clinical practice while evaluating the client’s responses to these interventions.

18. Discuss how spirituality and religion play roles in stress and stress management and work with clients to assess these dimensions of their lives and what roles they play or can play in their own stress management plans.

19. Identify major meditation techniques and their physiological, psychological and spiritual effects on stress, and assess whether the client maybe a candidate for referral to a meditation practice learning instructor or group.

20. Discuss the steps to effective meditation practice and discuss with clients their interest in seeking learning in meditation practices and make referrals for instruction as appropriate.

21. Define and discuss the concepts of autogenic training and imagery and how they can be used in a stress management program, how to safely use them in clinical practice with clients and how to evaluate their effectiveness in use with clients.

22. Discuss progressive relaxation and how to teach clients to use it and how to evaluate the client’s response to it and the effectiveness of this intervention.

23. Define and discuss the use of biofeedback in stress management and prepare to refer those clients interested in pursuing this modality to a trained specialist.

24. Identify the major physiological arousal interventions used in a stress management intervention program, become proficient in their use and implement them in clinical practice, evaluating their effectiveness and outcomes with clients.

25. Identify and discuss core strategies that clients can be taught to decrease stressful behaviors, and prepare and implement a teaching plan for clients around these core strategies.

27. Identify the major issues related to diversity and stress and be able to utilize this knowledge in clinical practice when working with clients.

28. Discuss health status research and outcomes related to minority groups and be able to utilize this knowledge in clinical practice when working with minority groups.

29. Discuss occupational stress and the use of assessment tools in practice and be able to utilize these tools in clinical practice when working with clients presenting with occupational stressors.

30. Define and discuss issues of sexual harassment on the job and the associated stresses and work with clients to develop a plan to deal more effectively with these issues and confront them.

31. Indemnify common stressors related to attending college and assist clients with these types of stressors to develop and implement personalized stress management plans to deal more effectively with the stresses.

32. Identify and discuss common stressors related to family dynamics and interventions to deal with such stressors and assist such clients in developing family stress management plans to confront and deal more effectively in working with stress and family dynamics.

33. Discuss a model of "family stress” and utilize this model in practice when working and assessing a family presenting with family dynamic/stressor issues.

34. Identify and discuss the most common issues for the elderly which create stress and use this knowledge when assessing and working with elderly clients.

35. Define and discuss issues of stress related to death, dying and the grief reaction and work with clients in clinical practice to develop a stress management plan to deal more effectively with these identified stresses or to refer to a qualified grief counselor.

Course Content:

1. The pioneers in stress management theory and practice
2. Stress physiology and its implications for client assessments
3. Stress Psychophysiology and its implications for mental health assessments
4. Stress and Illness/disease and client presentations in clinical practice
5. Life situations and perceptions and their effects on clients stress levels
6. Interpersonal relationships and stress and how to assess clients levels of impact related to these issues
7. Spirituality, religion and stress and how they impact clients and how to assess these impacts in clinical practice
8. Meditation techniques to teach patients in the clinical practice setting
9. Autogenic training and imagery techniques to teach clients and use as therapeutic modalities in clinical practice
10. Biofeedback interventions that clients may be referred to as an advanced stress management modality
11. Relaxation techniques to teach and implement with clients in clinical practice
12. Physiological arousal mechanisms and how to work with them with clients in the clinical setting
13. Exercise and stress management including the development for developing effective stress management plans for clients for long-term implementation
14. Strategies for decreasing stressful behaviors that are useful in developing personal stress management plans for clients
15. Diversity and stress and how to incorporate these principles in client assessment and treatment planning
16. Occupational stress, how to assess for these types of stressors and how to assist clients to better manage stress in the work place
17. Stress and the college student, and how to help students better identify their current stressors and assist them in developing personal plans to better manage them
18. Family stress and dynamics, how to assess stress dynamics and how to work with families to better manage identified stressors within the family system
19. Stress and the elderly, assessing common stressors in the elderly population and implementing effective strategies to assist them in coping more effectively
20. Death, dying and grief and assisting clients to identify their grief reactions and learn to strengthen normal coping mechanisms during the grief phase
21. Assessment tools for stress identification which can be used in work and assessment with clients in stress management practices
23. Behavior change techniques, evidence-based, for mental health care professionals to incorporate in counseling sessions to enhance client outcomes
24. Community involvement and resources
25. Issues of coping in today's world